LLearn Japanese

まい instead of ない?

Is this a typo or am I getting introduced to something new here? I have a cool app that lets you have kanji that you’re learning (well, you don’t specifically input kanji. You choose N5, N4, etc.) and then it shows you random kanji from what you chose.

6 comments

  3. Not a typo. This is the [auxiliary verb まい](https://www.weblio.jp/content/%E3%81%BE%E3%81%84). In modern Japanese, this is usually the negative volitional (word sense 2 in link above) equivalent to ないようにしよう/ないつもりだ. In English, “Let me not/Let’s not”.

    もう言うまい。→もう言わないようにしよう。  

    Example from the link: 何があっても泣くまいと決心した→何があっても泣かないつもりだと決心した。

    This is somewhat rarely used grammar, but it does appear from time to time especially as part of vestigial collocations like ~ようと~まいと (see the other word senses). Maybe N2~N1 level.

    FYI, u/Areyon3339 ‘s translation of ないだろう is word sense 1 in my link. This is not negative volitional (打ち消しの意志) but “negative guess/speculation” (打ち消しの推量).

  4. Note that it’s tacked to a full verb, not to a verb stem.

    (That said, it feels way too early to be learning まい when you’re still learning 言う.)

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